Monthly Archives: September 2009

The House Energy and Commerce Committee marked up two bills this morning addressing concerns over the use of consumers’ personal information and the potential exposure of that data through the use of peer-to-peer (P2P) programs. The Data Accountability and Trust Act (H.R. 2221) has gone through this committee in previous years, with almost the exact [...]

September 30 Hearing: The Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security Subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on cyberbullying and other safety issues. 3 p.m. 2141 Rayburn Building UPDATE: Markup added Markup: The House Energy and Commerce Committee will markup the Data Accountability and Trust Act and proposed peer-to-peer legislation. 10 a.m., 2123 [...]

If you’ve read a recent piece I co-wrote in Communications of the ACM (membership required), you know that the States largely drive education decisions in the US. Because of this, our community has to play “wack-a-mole” when we hear about issues that pop up in the fifty states affecting computer science education. Luckily, the Computer [...]

Earlier this week Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski announced his intention to establish an expanded definition of net neutrality to “safeguard the free and open Internet.” Starting next month the Commission will start a rule-making process to codify the four net neutrality principles that currently guide its decisions on this issue, and add two [...]

This morning the Research and Science Education Subcommittee of the House Science and Technology Committee met to mark up legislation that would amend the Cyber Security Research and Development Act. Much of the bill will simply extend authorized budget amounts for various research programs related to cybersecurity, but the bill will make some changes to [...]

The ACM’s Policy Office staff and USACM’s leadership have compiled USACM’s annual report for the past fiscal year – 2009 (which ended June 30). This year’s report contains descriptions of USACM’s work on advancing computer science education and innovation, electronic voting, privacy, and security. The report details testimonies given by our members as well as [...]

September 21 Presentation: The DC Chapter of the Association for Computing Machinery and the New America Foundation host a discussion with Prof. Jonathan Lazar on human-computer interaction research and public policy. 7:30 p.m., 1899 L Street NW, Suite 400, Washington, D.C. September 23 Markup: The Research and Science Education Subcommittee of the House Science and [...]

September 21 Presentation: The DC Chapter of the Association for Computing Machinery and the New America Foundation host a discussion with Prof. Jonathan Lazar on human-computer interaction research and public policy. 7:30 p.m., 1899 L Street NW, Suite 400, Washington, D.C. September 23 Markup: The Research and Science Education Subcommittee of the House Science and [...]

Below is a list of items with policy relevance from the September issue of Communications of the ACM. As always, much of the material in CACM is premium content, and free content one month may slip behind a pay wall the next. You need to be a member of ACM or a subscriber to CACM [...]

Congress has returned from its August recess. September 10 Meeting: The Consumer Advisory Committee of the Federal Communications Commission will meet to discuss the National Broadband Plan 9 a.m.-4 p.m. 445 12th St, S.W. Room TW-C305, Washington, D.C. (also webcast) Hearing: The House Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on competition in digital books. 10 [...]

Event Date: September 21, 2009 The Washington DC Chapter of the Association for Computing Machinery, with support from the New America Foundation, will hold a lecture on “Current issues in Human-Computer Interaction and Public Policy”. Speaker Dr. Jonathan Lazar, professor in the Department of Computer and Information Sciences at Townson University, will describe how government [...]

The Association for Computing Machinery recently submitted comments (PDF) on the Race to the Top Fund, an Education Department program set up to address some of its obligations under the economic stimulus legislation. The Fund is intended to reward schools and their districts that have achieved innovation and reform in the following areas: implementing standards [...]